Wrap Artist

I think wraps are the best sandwiches you can make. They’re easy to hold, fun to eat, and don’t spill their contents easily.

You can make them with cold ingredients, like the Curried Chickenless Salad Sandwiches I recently made, or they can be hot like these Enchiladas pictured here (before the extra sauce was poured on top).

OK, technically Enchiladas aren’t wraps because you eat them with a fork, but as hot burritos the concept is similar. Like all wraps, Enchiladas are especially great for improvisation because they are so capable of handling whatever you have on hand.

Dona Z. Meilach's Wraps and Roll-Ups (non-vegan) names four components needed to make the perfect wrap: filling, binder, flavoring, and crunch.

One ingredient can cover more than one component and one component can be covered by more than one ingredient. Here’s how it breaks down.

Filling - This is the main component. In my Enchiladas, this was covered by spinach. I used a 10.5 ounce frozen chopped spinach, squeezed of all water, as the main ingredient for this one. In Veganland, this is generally covered by the main vegetable, but can also be beans or tofu.

Binder - This holds everything together. I usually use grains or beans, but even soft potato or pumpkin could work. In my Enchiladas, I used brown rice. I didn’t measure how much. It was whatever was left over.

Flavoring - This is usually covered by a sauce. It can be enchilada sauce, soy sauce, chili sauce, chutney, guacamole, peanut sauce, BBQ sauce, you name it. In my Enchiladas, I used leftover cheesy sauce. Again, I didn’t measure how much. I just added to taste.

Crunch - This is most overlooked component of wraps. Crunch adds texture, which prevents your wrap from being another mushy bean burrito. In my Enchiladas, I added some chopped celery. Nuts (I like slivered almonds for Asian wraps) and fresh vegetables (especially chopped, sliced, or matchstick carrots) are my favorite addition for crunch. Others include broccoli, cabbage, sunflower seeds or even thick potato chips if they don’t get dampened by the sauce.

As I mentioned, some ingredients can be used for several components. Tofu can be a binder and a filling. Raw carrots can be a filling and a crunch. Cooked carrots can be a filling and a binder. Thick sauces can be a binder and a flavoring. Peanut butter can be a binder, a filling, and a flavoring, though not all three at once. Add jelly as the flavoring and you’ve got it made.

SPINACH ENCHILADAS RATING - 8

Curried Chickenless Salad Sandwiches

One of my new cookbooks (thank you, holiday gift cards) is Vegan Planet by Robin Robertson. After reading the recommendation of my good friend, Pixiepine (see her "Palace" on my Blog List at right), I chose Curried Chickenless Salad Sandwiches as my first recipe to try.

This has two ingredients that are considered totally love or totally hate - curry powder and tempeh. I'm fine with both of them.

Curry powder is the essence of Indian food and tempeh, which is a chewy, fermented soy product, can be bitter if not poached or steamed a bit. After 10 minutes in simmering water tempeh is much better.

I don't see the recipe posted online so you'll have to get the book for this one, but what I especially like about it is the contrasts of both flavors and textures.

The flavors combine savory ones like tempeh and curry with sweet ones like golden raisins and sweet pickle relish. The textures include chewy ones like tempeh, red peppers, and scallions with crunchy ones like chopped celery and slivered almonds.

After making the sandwich as pictured above, I realized this followed one of my own guidelines for perfect wraps (a future blog post) for having multiple textures.

Although the recipe just says to put it on bread, I say roll that baby up in a large tortilla and you'll enjoy one incredible wrap.

CURRIED CHICKENLESS SALAD SANDWICHES RATING - 8